German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck warned US billionaire Elon Musk against meddling in the upcoming German election, and criticized Musk’s recent outspoken support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
“Hands off our democracy, Mr. Musk!” Habeck told the news magazine Spiegel when asked whether Musk was a threat to Germany.
“The combination of immense wealth, control over information and networks, the use of artificial intelligence and the will to ignore rules is a frontal attack on our democracy,” Habeck continued.
He said that Musk, an advisor to US President-elect Donald Trump who is expected to have a prominent role in the upcoming US administration, is doing everything he can to push through his interests.
Musk, who is known for his provocative postings on his social media platform X, has been causing unrest in German politics for days.
At the weekend, he endorsed the AfD with a lengthy opinion piece published in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper ahead of elections on February 23.
Habeck described the statements in the guest article as “awful” and warned against underestimating Musk’s attempts to exert influence in German politics.
“The richest man in the world, who owns one of the most powerful communication platforms, openly supports a party that is partly right-wing extremist. We should not make the mistake of dismissing this,” said Habeck.
Germany’s BfV domestic intelligence agency is monitoring the national AfD party as a suspected right-wing extremist group, and several state-level party organizations have already received that designation.
Trump’s incoming vice president, JD Vance, also recently waded into the upcoming German elections.
Although Vance said he would not support any party in the campaign “as it’s not my country and we hope to have good relations with all Germans,” he went on to denounce the portrayal of the AfD as a “Nazi-lite” extremist party as “slander.”
The AfD is currently polling between 18% and 20% ahead of the election.